Ethel and white earbuds
p2pnet.net News Views:- Bob Lefsetz is a genuine music industry legend who publishes his e-mail "The Lefsetz Letter" just about every day.
A little while ago we ran his The RIAA Position which, although it came out in 2002, could almost have been written in 2005.
Here’s Lefsetz today on Ethel and White Earbuds.
Read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ETHEL
By Bob Lefsetz – The Lefsetz Letter
Okay, I got e-mail wondering if Cliff Burnstein was drinking some hootch, or…
If you don’t know what Ethel is, you’re still listening to FM radio.
Please read today’s "New York Times" on Mark Cuban and simultaneous delivery of movies to homes and theatres. Oh, he’s talking about a DVD option, but hate to clue you in, the disc is dead. While Hollywood is debating DRM standard for HD discs, the customer has moved on. And it’s not only movies, it’s radio too.
FM radio just isn’t hip. There, I said it. It doesn’t deliver the radio EXPERIENCE! FM radio delivers commercials, plain and simple. FM’s customer base is CORPORATIONS, ADVERTISERS, not PEOPLE! Radio, when done right, is a living, breathing thing. It’s not something to divert your attention on a boring drive, not something to kill time, it’s something you LIVE FOR! My car was in the shop for ten days and I felt withdrawal pangs as serious as the loss of a love. Back in the 80s people might have WANTED their MTV, but they NEED their XM. Because out of the speakers comes a whole WORLD!
Ethel is XM’s modern rock channel. Or maybe you call it alternative rock. If it happened before Nirvana, it’s on Fred, channel 44, if it happened thereafter, it’s on Ethel, channel 47.
Oh, it might also be on Lucy, channel 54, where they play ALL the greatest hits of alternative rock. And could even be on XMU, channel 43, which is where the TRUE hipsters hang out, where the music is BORN! But if you want to be turned on to the best in modern rock today, just tune in Ethel. THAT’S what Cliff Burnstein is addicted to. THAT’S where he hears about all the new bands.
Then again, he does have Christine print out the reviews of all the highest rated acts on pitchformedia.com. Oops, did I give away a secret??
The old music business is dead. People like Clive Davis and Andy Lack just don’t know it yet. Seeing that the old system still has some life in it, they think it’s going to exist FOREVER! But just like e-mail killed fax machines, the old system’s gonna die OVERNIGHT! Oh, admit it, you thought computers were for nerds, but when you heard about this folder on AOL ten years ago entitled "Insider Tips" (the predecessor of the Velvet Rope), you went to CompUSA, bought a machine and signed up for AOL just to PLAY!
And you haven’t looked back.
You’ve given up your AOL address.
You surf the Web as if you were doing it your whole life.
If you’re ripping CDs, if you’re still SENDING people CDs, then you’re so 2001. Now it’s about MP3s. You e-mail them, you send them as IM attachments, the disc is IRRELEVANT! Adding bonus features to the CD is like throwing a saddle in with every horse. It’s shining up the past and ignoring the FUTURE!
WHITE EARBUDS
Something’s happening in Apple land. CONSTANTLY!
The company is about to blow up video on the Web. Hell did you see in iTunes 4.8 there’s a button to show video FULL SCREEN?? What, you mean you didn’t download 4.8?? Are you living in the WINDOWS WORLD, where to upgrade your computer is akin to bungee jumping on an unmeasured rope?
And then yesterday Steve Jobs announced built-in podcast support, coming within 60 days. God, wasn’t it just MONTHS ago that the podcast was BORN?? THAT’S how fast technology moves, THAT’S why you must realize the disc is dead. To try to hold on to old ways of doing business when technology is moving at light speed is like trying to stay together with your grade school girlfriend after you’ve entered college. There’s SOMETHING there, but god, there’s a whole new WORLD out there!
As for iPods themselves… If you think tomorrow’s iPod will look like today’s, you’re driving a Vega. The only way to stay ALIVE in the tech business is to stay ONE STEP AHEAD! Look, Real sued Microsoft and eventually got paid, but RealPlayer USED to be the Web standard and now it’s Windows Media (when it’s not QuickTime!). We call this winning the battle and losing the war. If you’re running a major label by slicing employees and putting out fewer discs and raising prices, I hope you’re getting paid a TON, because soon you won’t get paid AT ALL! You need MORE employees, putting out MORE music, all of it CHEAPER! To do otherwise is to open the market to competitors. Microsoft had a monopoly, still does, in fact. The major labels do not. They THINK they do, but they don’t. They used to maintain their monopoly via distribution, but those days are DONE!
Anyway, as Bono said, Apple is a band, hotter than any being purveyed by the major labels. And what the major labels have forgotten is…if a band is hot, if they’re credible, if you can BELIEVE IN THEM, people will give you ALL THEIR MONEY! If you’re pooh-poohing Apple, I feel sorry for you, to analyze their products vis a vis Windows is to MISS THE POINT! Nobody’s dick ever got hard over a Dell, but holding an iPod, buying a Mac, is akin to sex, you get all warm and tingly inside, you contemplate the move for days, maybe weeks, and when you finally take the plunge you’re in uncharted territory, that turns out to be BETTER than what you’ve left behind, you want to tell ALL your friends about it!
So, bottom line, Apple’s earbuds SUCK! Even THEY admit it. But even though iPods are compatible with ALL headphones, people won’t switch. I mean really, if you’re listening through those buds I feel sorry for you. Even ten dollar Sony over the head phones are better than they are. I use twenty dollar behind the ear Sonys when I’m working out, and if I’m stationary, or on a plane, I use my Bose noise-canceling cans, but I’m in the distinct minority. Or maybe it’s that I’ve got enough in my life that I don’t need white cords to feel good about myself, maybe I consider myself an OFFICER in the club, I don’t need a membership card. But the public does. So, people wear these shitty in-the-ear phones JUST so other people will think they’re cool. Ain’t that America. And, like I said, if you don’t understand this America, you’d better get a factory job, if they still exist.
[Published in p2pnet by permission of the author. All rights reserved by Bob Lefsetz,]
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See:-
The RIAA Position – Waking up the sleeping giant, p2pnet, May 11, 2005
May 24th, 2005 at 9:58 pm
WOW. You’re still RIPPING CDs down to MP3s? How 2004ish.
Chill out dude. One cup of coffee is enough.
May 25th, 2005 at 8:44 am
how sad still what do u expect from the technolically inept mac users , they probably still think using AOL is cool hahahaha what a dork!
May 25th, 2005 at 1:53 pm
“God, wasn’t it just MONTHS ago that the podcast was BORN??”
errrr, sounds like you’re the one who is a little behind the times there killer….progressive clubs have been doing it for quite sometime now.